1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to file card systems in which file cards stacked in holders are removable therefrom, and more particularly to a magnetic card filing assembly in which file cards are retained by magnetic attraction in the holder and can be angled to permit their inspection, slid within the holder or removed therefrom without, in doing so, mutilating the card in any way.
2. Status of Prior Art
In a conventional card filing system, the cards which carry data of interest, are stacked in a tray, a cabinet or other holder dimensioned to accommodate a stack of cards, the arrangement being such that the cards can be angled within the holder to facilitate their inspection, or slid within the holder to make room for additional cards, or removed from the holder so that they can be consulted and then returned to the holder or replaced by another card. In order to retain cards in the holder, the common practice is to provide a card having at least one keyhole slot punched therein at its lower edge, the card cooperating with a retaining rod in the holder which goes through the keyhole slots in the card stack and thereby retains the cards in the holder.
In order to remove a card from the file or to add a fresh card thereto without first pulling out the retaining rod, one must either disengage the card from the rod, or bring the card into engagement therewith, as the case may be. In either event, because the rod has a diameter which matches the hole portion of the keyhole slot in the card but is greater than the inlet to this hole, the act of attaching a card to a retaining rod or removing a card therefrom is troublesome. It not only involves some difficulty, especially if the cards are tightly packed in the holder, as so often is the case, but it also may result in mutilation of the keyhole slot, as a consequence of which the card will not be retained in the holder. In some instances, instead of a retaining rod, use is made of "T" shaped rails which engage the keyhole slots on the cards.
In the well-known ROLODEX file, instead of a straight line holder for storing a stack of cards, the holder is constituted by a rotatable cylinder supported within a casing and having a pair of retaining rings mounted concentrically thereon, the file cards being provided at their lower edges with a corresponding pair of keyhole slots which are engaged by the rings.
The advantage of the ROLODEX arrangement is that because the cards retained by the rings are in a circular array whose inner circumference is smaller than its outer circumference, the cards fan out, thereby facilitating their inspection. However, in order to add a card to this file or remove a card therefrom, the card must be brought into engagement with the rings or disengaged therefrom, and this action may result in mutilation of the keyhole slots.
Inasmuch as the present invention uses magnetic attraction in place of retaining rods and keyhole slots in order to retain cards in a card holder, the following patents are of prior art interest.
The Remke U.S. Pat. No. 3,224,824 shows a card file arrangement in which magnetic forces serve to fan out portions of a stacked array of cards to facilitate visual inspection. The cards are held in a drawer which slides out of a cabinet. Each card has at its bottom end a thin lamination of ferromagnetic material. In the cabinet (not the drawer) is a permanent magnet below the drawer. This magnetic arrangement serves not to hold the cards in place but to fan them out when the drawer is slid out of the cabinet.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,250,274 to Mathiesen discloses an elaborate magnetic arrangement in which each card has a magnetic area and the cards are caused to fan out "due to magnetic repulsion." U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,082 to Mathiesen also uses magnetic repulsion to cause file cards to spread out. Also involving magnetic repulsion is the file card having magnetic inserts shown in Mathiesen U.S. Pat. No. 3,033,208.
The Dahl, Jr. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,455,770 and 3,736,680 deal with magnetic cards which are caused to fan out and separate to reveal the matter printed thereon.
The term "card," as used herein, is not limited to a sheet of paperboard, although most file cards take this form. In the above-noted Dahl, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,680, for example, the card takes the form of a multi-channel microfiche jacket having microfilm strips stored in the channels. Such jackets are used to store records and are filed in the manner of ordinary cards in a suitable tray or holder from which the jackets may be removed or added thereto. Also included in the term are file folders in which documents to be filed are inserted between the leaves of the folders.